Mukoko has collected evidence of tens of thousands of abuses in the past decade.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Vatican’s Position is Scientifically Insupportable 
Dec 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Center for Inquiry deplores the Vatican’s pronouncement.… Read the rest
Scientific American on Vatican ‘Instructions’
Dec 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The Vatican is committed to conception that involves marital sex. Why?… Read the rest
Vatican Inadvertently Endorses Abortion
Dec 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Vatican says human life ‘can never be reduced merely to a group of cells.’ Just so.… Read the rest
Vatican Issues ‘Instruction’ on Bioethics
Dec 13th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Vatican’s most ‘authoritative’ document in 20 years, reinforcing the church’s mindless opposition to everything.… Read the rest
Want to Feel Better? Try Tuning Fork Therapy
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Or perhaps a gemstone elixir, or some nice Fibonacci set, or a mix of chakra forks and angel forks.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre Says Why He is so Repetitive
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Six newspapers report coroner hearing case of toddler who died after MMR jab; one reports the result: MMR not guilty.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre Considers
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scientific proof that we live in a warmer and more caring universe.… Read the rest
Blair Regrets Reticence About His ‘Faith’
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Thinks people are ‘comforted if they think the person leading them has some sense of spiritual values.’… Read the rest
Documentary Celebrates UDHR 60th Anniversary
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Shows 8 people who have fought to exercise their right to free speech; the last is David Irving.… Read the rest
David Irving, Free Speech Defender
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
So the libel suit was just a joke?… Read the rest
Bush Admin Blamed for Abuse of Detainees
Dec 12th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Bipartisan Senate report says coercive interrogation practices damaged the government’s moral authority.… Read the rest
Routine Violence in UK Madrassas
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘We are hiding behind the defence of cultural sensitivities and our children are not being protected.’… Read the rest
Religion and Compassion in the UK
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Madrassa ‘teacher’ whipped children for forgetting verses or mispronouncing Arabic words.… Read the rest
Jesus Repaired Mo’s Irony Meter
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But Mo just will not be careful.… Read the rest
Padraig Reidy on Article 19
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Most pernicious is the notion that ideas, like people, should be afforded protection. … Read the rest
What the UDHR Drafters Wanted
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
That everyone should belong somewhere, but not be imprisoned by that belonging.… Read the rest
The UDHR at 60
Dec 11th, 2008 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Grayling, Tutu, Robinson, Chakrabarti, Reidy, others comment.… Read the rest
Try opening both eyes
Dec 11th, 2008 11:41 am | By Ophelia BensonTom Clark discusses David Sloan Wilson and Jonathan Haidt and the Beyond Belief 2 conference.
Both Wilson and Jonathan Haidt argued at the conference that a predisposition for religion likely played an adaptive role (perhaps via between-group selection) in allowing humans to achieve our current level of ultra-sociality, in which more or less stable societies of unrelated individuals have replaced nomadic tribes. This is an empirical claim under investigation. It’s therefore striking that both accept the normative claim that religion, or more broadly a departure from evidence-based beliefs, might be a force for good in promoting social cohesion in a way that allegiance to strict empiricism…perhaps cannot.
Let’s look at a little of Jonathan Haidt.
… Read the restMy first few weeks
On teasing
Dec 10th, 2008 1:19 pm | By Ophelia BensonA psychologist tries to convince us that teasing is a good thing.
The reason teasing is viewed as inherently damaging is that it is too often confused with bullying. But bullying is something different; it’s aggression, pure and simple. Bullies steal, punch, kick, harass and humiliate. Sexual harassers grope, leer and make crude, often threatening passes. They’re pretty ineffectual flirts. By contrast, teasing is a mode of play, no doubt with a sharp edge, in which we provoke to negotiate life’s ambiguities and conflicts.
Well that makes things simple, but it makes them too simple. Bullying isn’t something entirely and clearly and unmistakably different – there’s a lot of overlap between the two. There’s also a lot of deliberate … Read the rest
